Southern Cape Stings and North West Flames draw thriller

The Southern Cape Stings staged a
dramatic last quarter onslaught to draw their Telkom Netball League (TNL) match
against the North West Flames at the Pretoria University Sports Centre on
Friday. The final score was 49-all, and the Flames led 28-22 at halftime.

The Stings had a poor start and
the Flames led 15-10 after the first quarter.

The Stings trailed by six goals at
halftime and by seven at the end of the third quarter (38-31), only to come back
strongly in the final quarter, outscoring the Flames by 18 goals to 11.

The match was played at a furious
pace and the defenders on both teams were outstanding, succeeding with
intercepts and rebounds.

In the second half, Stings coach
Annelie Lucas moved one of her most experienced players, Sasha-Lee Petersen,
who normally plays at centre, into the circle as goal defence to bolster her
defensive unit.

The last five minutes of the match
had the crowd on their feet as the Stings slowly ate away at the Flames’
lead. With a minute to go, they levelled
the score on 48-all and then went one goal up.
The Flames snatched a last second goal and the match ended in an
exciting draw.

“I was so annoyed with them after
the first quarter – they were all doing their own thing,” said Lucas. “After
that, they stuck to the game plan and things started to come right.

“We put pressure on their shooters
and it rattled them a bit,” she said.

Flames coach Elsje Jordaan was
disappointed with the performance of her team.

“To draw after being eight goals
up is just not acceptable,” she said. “Our attack struggled to get the ball to
the circle and they couldn’t establish a rhythm,” she said.

“They kept having to pass back,
which upsets the rhythm. “I suppose this is the way they learn.” Defending champions, the Gauteng Jaguars, continued to show
they are the team to beat when they defeated the Free State Crinums 52-46,
despite a determined second half fight-back from the Free State team. The Jaguars were 29-19 ahead at halftime.

The Crinums started well and were
15-11 ahead at the end of the first quarter, but the Jaguars stormed back in
the second quarter. Their goalkeeper
Jezelri Garbers and goal defence Akosua Mensah combined well to restrict the
Crinums in the circle, limiting them to just five goals, while the Jaguars,
spearheaded by veteran Chrisna van Zyl, and scored 18.

The Crinums started their comeback
in the third quarter winning it by three goals (16-13) but it was in the final
quarter that they threatened to upset the Jaguars’ applecart. At one stage they were just two goals adrift
(44-42) and appeared to be heading for victory.
However, the Jaguars showed their mettle and fought them off, scoring a
flurry of goals to make some space between them.

The Crinums won the quarter 11-10,
but the damage was done in the second quarter.

Jaguars coach Jenny Van Dyk said
she was trying a new defensive combination and had a brand new wing attack in
Jani Bergh, and the team had needed to settle in the first quarter.

“They came together in the second
quarter and I was very proud of the way they played.

“You can never relax when you play
the Crinums. They don’t have an off
button. “Luckily, we have a fast forward button, “she said.

“We still have a lot we can
improve on, and next week will be all about preparing for the semis and the
final.”

Earlier, Limpopo Baobabs
goalshooter Tylana Williamson helped her team win the battle of the Division
Two tail-enders when they beat the Northern Cape Diamonds 75-51, after leading
39-24 at halftime. After seven matches, the Diamonds have yet to win a match,
while the Baobabs have won three.

The Diamonds started fairly well
and led for a short time, but it was not long before the Baobabs began to show
who was boss. They led 15-11 after the
first quarter but stretched their lead to 15 goals in the second quarter,
scoring an admirable 24 goals.
Goalshooter Tylana Williamson had her shooting boots on and scored 20 of
those goals, from 20 attempts, while goal attack Kgothatso Mofomme scored four
from five.

Things calmed down somewhat in the
third quarter, with the Baobabs scoring 18 goals to 12 for the Diamonds. The Diamonds did a bit better in the final
quarter, losing it 18-15.

Williamson finished the match with
65 goals from 72 attempts.

In the final match of the day, the
SPAR Smileys, made up of locally-based members of the national training squad,
thrashed the Gauteng Fireballs 88-36. It was always going to be an uphill task
for the Fireballs, who have not won a match so far. SPAR Smileys coach Dorette Badenhorst was
able to play all her players, and try out different combinations.

The SPAR Smileys were 42-15 ahead
at halftime.

Their defence was outstanding and
they made life very difficult for the Fireballs attack, turning balls seemingly
at will. The SPAR Smileys will have a
tougher task on Saturday when they play the Jaguars.

Badenhorst said playing exhibition
matches during the TNL had been very valuable.

“It’s important to give the
players of the future an opportunity to play with established players. I was able to play the whole squad, and they
each had two to three quarters on court,” she said.

TELKOM NETBALL LEAGUE RESULTS

Results of Telkom Netball League
matches played at the Pretoria University Sports Centre on Friday